Two things happened at about the same time; first, Dorothy Brown called a press conference for her campaign for Cook County President, calling for ethics reform.  Dorothy Brown is the Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court right now.  Her press conference was held on the fifth floor of the County building, an ethical no-no.  Reportedly, her aids were carrying campaign signs - another no-no.

And in other related news, Angelo Colon, a Cook County Clerk since 1999, was charged with solicitation of a bribe and corruption.  He allegedly accepted $13,000 from a woman to get her husband, who is charged with drug trafficking, out of jail.

And we're to believe that Dorothy Brown is qualified to become Cook County President.

puhleez.

From the Southtown Star:

A 55-year-old man is being sought for leaving Cook County Commissioner Deborah Sims two threatening voicemail messages a day after she cast a controversial vote in September.

 He apparently left two 'vulgar' and "racist' comments on her voicemail.  The article talks about only one of them.

"I'm very disappointed in your vote. You flip-flopped, actually lied, and I hope you get ... AIDS and die," Stroh says in one message, police said.

But that's enough to get you charged with a hate crime, I guess.


To engage in that kind of racial comments and threats, I think that's inappropriate, it's wrong and I condemn it in the strongest possible terms," Peraica said.

Stroger and Madigan Meet Econ 101

Crain's reported yesterday that Mike Madigan lifted a hold on legislation that would slash Stroger's one percent sales tax increase. A companion bill reduces the number of commissioners necessary to override his veto.

There is a very interesting explanation at the Huffpo of how Cook County's taxes are laid on top of each other.

The Cook County tax mess is thick and deep like horse manure you need to have long boots on to shovel.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paras-bhayani/stroger-and-madigan-meet_b_314300.html

My Suburban Life:

The issue

The village (Bartlett) set up a tax-increment financing district (TIF) in December 1986 to revitalize its downtown by attracting new businesses and upgrading buildings and infrastructure. In May 2009, trustees brought up the idea of a one-year extension. Extending the TIF district for one more year would generate about $1.5 million, however, if the extension is granted, other taxing bodies would have to wait until the TIF expires to see any of the additional revenue.

More of this capital improvement stuff.  Fighting over the scraps...like vultures.

Since the TIF will not end on its own, the board must vote on an ordinance at its Oct. 20 board meeting. Mraz said the money has been locked up by Cook County and Bartlett won’t see the money if they do not make a decision. Taxing bodies must be notified of the decision by Nov. 1. The board will have three options: They can vote to extend the TIF, not extend the TIF, or extend contingent upon the fact that a portion also is refunded back to the taxing bodies.

Read the whole thing at My Suburban Life. 

This is ridiculous.

Sentence the murdering sociopath idiot already, and let the families finally put this behind them.

Crain's Chicago Business - - Leftists, naturally.

Chanting "Patients, not profits!" According to the article-they were socialist protesters, presumably affiliated with ACORN, SEIU, AFSCME, etc.-calling themselves

Healthcare-NOW! and the Center for the Working Poor. They plan similar protests next week in several other U.S. cities, including Philadelphia, where Cigna's corporate headquarters are located.

There they were, punching back twice as hard.

Officer Robert Perez says the protesters were arrested on criminal trespassing charges.

Little do they care about the law, though. I wonder who bailed them out.

A commenter on that article:

More free loaders who dont understand THAT IT IS THE GOVERNMENT WHO SET UP THE CENTRALIZED HMO'S and now merely want a lateral move SO THE GOVERNMENT WILL COLLECT THE MONEY FIRST.

Reform back to capitalism

Daniel T. Zanoza, Executive Director at Republlicans for Fair Media asks "Illinois Review U.S. Senate Poll Tainted: Mark Kirk Included, Andy Martin Not: Why?"

Off the top of my head I'd say-and I'm not speaking for Fran here, I'm just guessing- because he's a jackass and extremely litigious....an embarrassment...a loose cannon...and on and on. Sometimes I agree with his "take" on things, sometimes not - but at the very least, he seems to be a 'colorful' character.

Don't blame me for saying that; blame wikipedia:

Anthony Robert Martin-Trigona, usually known as Andy Martin (born 1945 in Middletown, Connecticut) is an American journalist, perennial candidate, and vexatious litigant

Why is he a "perennial candidate" who has never won an election, one might ask?

You might answer this question with the same answer as the previous.

From an article posted October 6th at Clout Street

The Cook County Board today voted to expand the power of county’s inspector general to investigate elected officials.

Inspector General Patrick Blanchard and his successors now will be able to initiate an investigation of an elected official on their own, providing they meet a U.S. Supreme Court standard of suspicion.

 Sounds pretty subjective.

Previously, the inspector general could investigate elected officials only if someone signed a complaint against that official.

Commissioner John Daley, D-Chicago, noted that the state now uses the same suspicion standard, one that falls somewhere lower than probable cause.

With the hearsay law in place, and now a standard that 'falls somewhere lower than probable cause', I see a lot of potential trouble here.  As if Cook County doesn't have enough.

On a smaller scale, Governor Quinn's capital improvement plan is the equivalent of the Stimulus Package; a waste of taxpayer dollars to be thrown at improving roads, bridges, etc. And the jobs that it would produce would only be temporary; they would go away when these projects are completed.   Quinn's plan involved the assumption that a hefty revenue stream would be pouring in from videogaming to pay for it.

Knowing the history of problems in Illinois with graft and lobbyists, special interests and union organizers, it should come as little surprise that Bridget Gainer, was, according to the Southwest News Herald:

appointed by Chicago Machine committeemen to succeed Mike Quigley in the 10th district in Chicago,

Gainer is a former lobbyist for AON, and her father is Bill Gainer, who is personal friends with the Daleys.  In fact, she-

received at least $2,000 from casino-related interests to her election campaign committee three weeks before proposing the video gaming machine ban.

So we can see the handwriting on the wall here.  With cash incentives, Gainer then proceeded to artificially influence the marketplace and take away the casinos' competition for the revenues.  Although, as some have pointed out, poor people tend to gamble; and in a sense, this is taking advantage of some of the most vulnerable among us.

Asked about Gainer receiving funds from two executive of the 10th Casino licensee, Midwest Gaming & Entertainment LLC, Pappas said that the vote might have been different at the Finance Committee if other commissioners knew.

There are more donations to Gainer from 'interested parties' that people should have been aware of:

On June 30, 2009, Gainer’s election campaign received $1,000 from Leslie Bluhm. Bluhm is listed on Gainer’s disclosure forms as working with “Lamb Partners.” On the same day, Gainer also received $1,000 from Gregory Carlin, who is also listed as an executive with at Lamb Partners.

Leslie Bluhm is the daughter of Midwest Gaming Chairman Neil Bluhm, and she is also a “partner” in Midwest Gaming. Gregory Carlin is President of Midwest Gaming. Neil Bluhm has many corporate interests in Illinois including Lamb Partners. He is also president of JMB Realty Corporation.

Gainer’s legislation was fast-tracked through the county board over the objections of several commissioners who asked that public hearings be held first. In fact, no "public hearings" were held on Gainer’s bill which sat dormant in the Finance Committee until Gainer asked Finance Committee Chairman John Daley to put the bill on an agenda for a vote. That vote was taken last Thursday, October 1, 2009 immediately after a few members of the public, last minute, were allowed to speak on the issue.

It is highly unusual for an appointee to become the point person for legislation like this.  It is even more unusual for legislation to be fast tracked so quickly without much of an opportunity for debate.  The measure was passed yesterday, October 6, when the full board voted on it. With the cigarette ban which has reduced revenue that would have poured into the Capital Improvement Program, and now this - Quinn is going to have to invent some additional ways to rape taxpayers to pay for it.

Cook County bans video poker in unincorporated areas (Daily Herald)

The Cook County Board stood up to 11th-hour lobbying by the video-gambling industry today and passed a ban on video poker in unincorporated areas.

In some ways, it was a redundant act, in that the county already bans video gambling, but the new ordinance, sponsored by Democratic Chicago Commissioner Bridget Gainer, specifically addressed language and machines cited in the new $31 billion state public-works bill passed earlier this year in Springfield.

"It's just not the way to fund governmental operations," said Riverside Republican Commissioner Tony Peraica. "We need to stop enabling the state legislature in their foolishness."

Republican Commissioner Liz Gorman, of Orland Park, noted that the public-works bill, which intended to fund about one-third of its total cost through video gambling, had the backing of Republicans in the General Assembly. Gov. Quinn, however, worked to add language allowing local governments to "opt out" if they so desired, and Cook's action today followed DuPage and Lake counties and dozens of municipalities in doing so.

At the moment, the ban affects only 53 places with liquor licenses in unincorporated Cook. Yet it adds political momentum to the public outcry against expanding video gambling.

53 places with liquor licenses in unincorporated Cook; I wonder how much the Casinos think they're going to make on this maneuver when the competition is taken away from them like this.

Gorman called it "hypocritical" and said that it was about protecting the larger gambling industry from video competition, adding they should either ban all gambling or none at all.

Gainer appears to be the hero today.

The commissioners voted unanimously 15-0, however, to approve Gainer's "Sunshine" lobbying-reform initiative. It will call on all lobbyists to register and report their activity online through the office of County Clerk David Orr, who helped form the ordinance.

The new law will also ban all county employees from lobbying on county affairs for a year after they leave their government positions. The lobbying Web site is due to be up and running by next summer.

Gainer is a former lobbyist for AON, her dad is Bill Gainer, a retired lobbyist who is good friends with the Daleys. Bridget is said to have been placed there to give Stroger the majority of votes on the Board. There is so much cronyism and nepotism here it's difficult to fathom.

None of this, as far as I can tell, works to the benefit of taxpayers.

But he said it in such a way that you couldn't be sure. Lying liars lie, as they say.

BackyardConservative: Bill Ayers No Dream:

"Scruffy, thinning beard, dippy earring, and the wirerims, heading to order.
I gathered my things, got my camera ready, and snapped a shot right when he got his coffee.

I asked--what are you doing in D.C. Mr. Ayers?"

It sounds as though she held her own with the jerk very well. Click on the link for her snapshot of his ugly puss and read her post about it.

Read the rest at Backyard Conservative.

There is rumored to be a facebook page for his candidacy, but I can't find it.

Garcia is on twitter, though - here AGarcia2010

But don't be alarmed about it. Here's the article-Counterfeit currency surfacing in area (Suburban Chicago news)

A rash of counterfeit money has hit the area in recent weeks, with police departments in Elgin, Algonquin, West Dundee and Lake in the Hills have all handling reports of the bogus bills.

All four area departments say they recovered the funny money -- including $5 and $100 bills -- during the month of September.

I'm not sure why this even hit the news. Every month, about $20,000 in counterfeit money is passed in the Chicago metro area--authorities aren't seeing, as pointed out in the article, any unusual pattern here - it's the amount they usually see. But when you buy gas or groceries and get cash back, make sure you take a close look at the bills before you put them back in your wallet. And for what it's worth, the secret service isn't involved in this yet. The Elgin police are doing a preliminary investigation hoping to nab the source of some of these bills, which reportedly are poor quality fakes.

Schools on lockdown because of disgruntled employee (My Suburban Life)

I was there; coming home from physical therapy and Lake Street was swarming with Bartlett and Streamwood cops. This is right on the border of Streamwood and Bartlett and it appears the man was hispanic. A fire truck had a ladder extended to the roof of one of the buildings in the strip mall, so I don't know precisely what happened and didn't stop to take pictures or ask what was going on.

But this is what My Suburban Life had to say about the incident.

Bartlett, IL -Eastview Middle School and Bartlett Elementary School were on lockdown Monday after a Streamwood man threatened an employee at a Lake Street business.

The Bartlett Police Department was the first to respond to reports of a disgruntled employee at a business near the 200 block of East Lake Street in unincorporated Cook County around 2:15 p.m.

A Streamwood man implied he was armed with a weapon and threatened a coworker, police said.

Eastview Middle School and Bartlett Elementary School were immediately notified of the situation and placed on a temporary precautionary lockdown until the Streamwood man was located.

The Cook County Sheriff’s Office later took over the investigation.

While Bartlett Police reported that the Streamwood man made the threat in person, the Sheriff’s Office said the threat was made over the phone.

Lisa Gordon, spokeswoman for the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, said the man threatened over the phone that he had a gun and was coming there to take care of a money issue.

“The owner signed a complaint for disorderly conduct and phone threat,” Gordoncq said. “There was no reference to (the Streamwood man) being an employee of the business.”

Around 2:30 p.m., the man was taken into custody without incident at a business in the 5000 block of Valley Lane in Streamwood and turned over to the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, Bartlett police said. It was later determined the Streamwood man was unarmed.

It was somewhat of an over reaction on the part of the schools to 'lockdown' as a result of this.

If it's the man I saw as we were driving by, waving his arms, with his eyes glazed over, it would appear they left out the part that he was not only disorderly, he was drunk.

10-07-09 New Business Classification System Could Be Devastating by Sandy Cruz

During a recent meeting of the Chicago Southland Chamber of Commerce Real Estate Banking Council Bill Sandrick from the Sandrick Law Firm LLC discussed the impact of the change in assessments for business owners; a bigger tax bill due to a change in classification on properties.

While the assessments may look almost identical, businesses will see a 15 percent or more property tax increase. Up until this year vacant land in Cook County was assessed at 22%, residential was assessed at 16% and commercial and industrial were assessed at 38% and 36%.

The Illinois Constitution gives counties with a population of 200,000 or more the ability to classify for purposes of taxation. Only Cook has exercised that privilege. Sandrick said the Constitution states that if you have a classification system there cannot be a differential of more than 2-1/2% between the lowest assessed class and the highest assessed class. The General Assembly requires fair cash value to be the basis for assessment and the assessed valuation must be 33% of the fair cash value except for Cook County which has its own system. The classification system is strictly the decision of the county board. The courts ruled that the total assessment in the county has to equal 33% of the total (fair) market value so you can have varying levels of assessment. Sandrick said the Cook County multiplier is an algebraic adjustment to ensure compliance with the 33-1/3% requirement. FMV x assessment x multiplier x tax rate = tax dollars needed.

The problem is that 2/3 of the assessment base in Cook County is residential. “If 2/3 of your tax base is assessed at 16%, you have a problem. The problem driving the changes is that the defacto assessment for residential in reality is 10% vs. the statutory requirement of 16%. The difference is made up in the multiplier. The undervaluation of Class 2 properties results in a higher multiplier,” Sandrick said. “One solution would be to slowly assess residential property back up to 16 percent to bring the multiplier down and ease the burden on commercial and industrial business owners and prevent the flight of business to Will County. The undervaluation is the biggest problem and that’s why the changes were enacted. Since 2002 the multiplier in Cook County has gone from 2.4689 to 2.9786 in 2008. That is a 21 percent increase. Even if your assessment hasn’t changed, your taxes went up 21 percent as a result of the multiplier going up.”

This is the reason why businesses are running like hell out of Cook County; Cook County is taxing their pants off.

In recognition of the problem Sandrick said the assessor’s office devised a way to eliminate the great disparity in classifications. The 2009 assessments are 10 percent for vacant land and 10% for Class 2 residential. Class 3 apartments will be at 16% in 2009, 13% in 2010 and 10% in 2011. Commercial and industrial will be at 25%.

“The state mandates all property must be assessed at 33% and now because there are five major classes and none of those assessment levels are 33% what will happen to the multiplier? If you choose to do nothing in about 13 months your taxes will jump” Sandrick said.

He explained that as a result of your level of assessment going from 36% to 25% and the assessor’s office making the transition from the assessor’s value which is typically lower, to real value this boosted the market value of your property. That is a 52% increase in market value for commercial property and 44% for industrial. “As tax attorneys we argue market value,” Sandrick said. “The assessor is pushing market values up while we all know that they are dropping.”

What should businesses do? Sandrick’s answer is appeal, appeal, appeal until you have exhausted all efforts. “I can’ stress enough that you have to appeal in 2009. You have to attack the market value,” Sandrick said. Market value can be appealed through the Cook County Assessor’s office and then through the Cook County Board of Appeals and Circuit Court.

“The art of taxation consists in so plucking the goose as to obtain the largest possible amount of feathers with the smallest possible amount of hissing”

 Jean Baptiste Colbert (from the Sandrick Law Firm LLC website.)

Don't get plucked.

Chicago Breaking News

Scores of people are at today's Cook County Board meeting to protest the expected passage of a measure that tweaks the county's already existing video-gambling ban in unincorporated areas.

The protesters, not all of whom could get into the meeting because of fire-code occupancy limits, were organized by the 130-member Illinois Coin Machine Operators Association, said Tom Fiedler, the group's president.

The protesters, who are unlikely to get a chance to speak because a public hearing on the issue was held last week, are wearing white T-shirts that say "JOBS, JOBS, JOBS" on the front, and "DON'T OPT OUT" on the back.

Fiedler said the protesters include his members, restaurant and bar owners that would benefit from video gambling, as well as union representatives.

This short article refers to Clout Street for more so let's go over there for a moment.

By passing the measure, Cook County joined scores of municipalities and counties across Illinois that have banned the machines. Opponents contend they are “the crack cocaine” of gambling, have been linked to the Chicago Outfit and would be difficult and expensive to regulate.

But regulating is what they're doing with it, isn't it?

The Cook County Board today tweaked its ban on video gambling to ensure the betting machines won’t be allowed in unincorporated areas under Gov. Pat Quinn’s statewide construction plan.

But as mentioned before, it's the Casinos that are behind this because video gambling would take a bite out of their "take". This is a fight for a cut of the "take".

Previous:

Cook County Commissioners to vote on overriding Cook County President's veto requirements; Video Poker

Casino donations tied to sponsor of video gaming machine ban

Image: CREATED/PUBLISHED ca. 1915 Feb. 5 DN-0009693, Chicago Daily News negatives collection, Chicago Historical Society - William Hale Thompson posing in front of the sign for his campaign for Mayor of Chicago.

I have an unusual historical memory of this because of my great-grandfather's political involvement in Park Ridge during this period of time, the book that was published about what the corrupt politicians did to him called "They Got their Man", which family members read and re-read, and the stories that have been passed down from generation to generation in our family.

This picture shows the last Republican Mayor of Chicago, William Hale Thompson, who was reportedly on Al Capone's payroll.

A history of graft

Chicago, with its long history as a center of vice and organized crime, has had its share of official graft.

One of the most notorious alleged recipients was never convicted of any crime.

William “Big Bill” Thompson, who served as mayor from 1915 to 1923 and again from 1927 to 1931, was the last Republican to serve as mayor of the “City of Broad Shoulders.” He returned to office the second time with the support of gangster Al Capone, pledging to clean up organized crime in the city but instead targeting reformers.

Upon his defeat in 1931, the Chicago Tribune leveled the harshest accusations against Thompson in an editorial:

“For Chicago Thompson has meant filth, corruption, obscenity, idiocy and bankruptcy,” the newspaper said. “.... He has given the city an international reputation for moronic buffoonery, barbaric crime, triumphant hoodlumism, unchecked graft, and a dejected citizenship. … He made Chicago a byword for the collapse of American civilization."

Upon his death, two safe-deposit boxes in his name containing nearly $1.5 million in cash reportedly were discovered. (MSNBC)

The picture above taken in 1944 by Marie Hansen, shows Rep. William G. Stratton (3R, seated) counting money found in the safety deposit box belonging to ex-Mayor of Chicago William Hale Thompson after Thompson's death.  More on William Hale Thompson at the Chicago Crime Scenes Project, here. Thompson was quite a character and even served for two years as Cook County Board Commissioner at one point.

Illinois’ official slogan is the “Land of Lincoln,” but an equally apt descriptor would be the “Land of Greased Palms.”

The state, Cook County and its governmental seat, Chicago, have a long history of corruption by elected and appointed officials. (MSNBC)

And corruption is a kind word for what it's historically been; a mixture of gangsters vying for territory which culminated in such unsavory scenes as the Valentine's Day Massacre, and gangster and union involvement influencing politicians with bribes and death threats, and sometimes campaign donations, parties, bootlegging, horses, you name it.

The culture of corruption dates back to the late 19^th century, when a gambling-house owner named Michael Cassius McDonald created the city's first political machine, establishing a model in which officials would distribute contracts, jobs and social services in exchange for political support, according to a scholarly history of organized crime in Chicago by Robert Lombardo, a sociology professor and former Chicago and Cook County police officer. (MSNBC)

So Illinois's culture of corruption was kicked off in the late 19th centure by a gambling house owner.  Gambling in Illinois goes back a very long time, which is why the current video poker ban and videogaming discussions are striking me as -at the very least - humorous.   The mob has been behind gambling in Illinois for longer than most of us have been alive.   Graft, bribes, paybacks, bribery--corruption.

Its persistence was documented in Sept. 7, 2006 by the Chicago Sun-Times, which reported that at least 79 current or former Illinois, Chicago or Cook County elected officials had been found guilty of a crime by judges, juries or their own pleas since 1972. The paper provided this tally of the tarnished: three governors, two other state officials, 15 state legislators, two congressmen, one mayor, three other city officials, 27 aldermen, 19 Cook County judges and seven other Cook County officials.

The article noted that so many aldermen had been jailed that the newspaper ran a front-page-story in 1991 when the year passed with none being indicted or convicted. (MSNBC)

This of course, doesn't include the charges against Rod Blagojevich.  Cleaning up Illinois is going to be a major undertaking, and as my great-grandfather found out, there are people who are deadly serious about making sure their graft, their greased palms, and their bank accounts remain just as they've always been.

See MSNBC's article dated December 9, 2008 if you want to read more:

Illinois has long legacy of public corruption

At least 79 elected officials have been convicted of wrongdoing since 1972

Chicago Public Radio reports that the Cook County Commissioners are going to vote on override measures to Todd Stroger's veto power. This may make sense in the grande scheme of things where Todd Stroger's ineptness is concerned; but it gives more power to the Cook County Commissioners, which probably isn't a good thing, either.

Later this morning, Cook County Commissioners are expected to urge Illinois lawmakers to change some strict veto override requirements.

Last month commissioners opposed to Board President Todd Stroger's sales tax hike tried to override his veto of an ordinance to cut the tax by half-a-penny on the dollar. Commissioners thought they had the 14 votes needed to make the override, but one commissioner changed her mind.

Today the Cook County Board will take up a resolution that asks state legislators to pass a bill allowing commissioners to override a veto by a 3/5 majority, instead of the current 4/5. The proposed resolution says Cook County is the only one in the state with that high of a requirement.

Also this morning, commissioners will take up an ordinance to ban video poker in unincorporated parts of the county. Illinois lawmakers legalized the machines to help pay for a multi-billion dollar construction plan. Local governments can choose to opt out of the deal.

Two hot button issues are to be voted on today; overriding veto power and video poker. Previous post on video gaming, here.

The Cook County Finance Committee voted in early October to ban video gambling in unincorporated areas of Cook County, but today at its October 6th meeting,the full county board is expected to vote on the ban.

Cmdr. Michael Anton, head of the vice unit for the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Department, said the department opposes legalized video gaming. He called it virtually impossible to regulate. -MedIll Reports

A Markham man charged in a multiple-car crash in Crestwood last week that killed a man was on parole for a 2006 deadly car crash and should not have had a valid driver's license, a state official said Monday.

Bruce Dozier had a valid license at the time he caused the Oct. 1 crash that killed Frederick Anderson, 55, of Country Club Hills, police said. But he shouldn't have, according to the Illinois secretary of state's office.

Dozier's reckless driving conviction in Cook County for the 2006 accident in which a 28-year-old woman died should have resulted in the revocation of his license, said David Druker, a spokesman for the secretary of state's office.

But, Druker said, the clerk of the circuit court of Cook County never notified the secretary of state about the conviction.

From the Southtown Star. Another example of incompetence in Cook County. Who is the clerk of the circuit court in Cook County? Dorothy Brown.

Carol Marin and Don Moseley at the Suntimes report:

In the last five years, Cook County has gotten nearly $43 million from the U.S. Homeland Security Department for Project Shield, a program that's supposed to equip all 128 suburbs countywide with state-of-the-art video cameras.

In the past five years, Cook County has gotten $43 million from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security for Project Shield.

The aim: to provide immediate live video from police cars and other locations to a central command in case of terrorism or other emergency. Backers say that would let authorities move quickly to provide police and rescue workers with vital information.

But Project Shield remains dogged by problems, a Chicago Sun-Times/NBC5 investigation found. Already 36 percent over budget, the massive effort now isn't expected to be fully operational until 2011 -- three years late. Even then, it could be without a number of suburbs that opted out because of problems.

"I think the federal government has to investigate what's happened with Project Shield so far and re-evaluate its effectiveness," said U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), a former Cook County commissioner who's asking the Government Accountability Office to investigate. "And if it decides it is not working, it's going to have to start over, with someone else overseeing the entire project."

Riiight. Get the feds to do an investigation; that's like hiring the fox to guard the henhouse. Throw some more taxpayer money at it; that always seems to be the solution in Cook County-and nationwide it's a solution that never works.

Two people have now been convicted of the 1993 Browns Fried Chicken Massacre; Juan Luna on May 10, 2007-and James Degorski on September 29, 2009.

You know, this is starting to piss me off.  Boo, hoo, people don't know the real Degorski.  Boo, hoo, he's in jail now for the rest of his life; or could be sentenced to death.  Boo, hoo, he never hit me or was violent, and...I will always love him...!

Peters, who dated Degorski and lived with him at various times between the time of the slayings and his arrest, said he never hit her and that she never saw him hit anyone, including a woman he dated previously.

Peters, in her fantasyworld, doesn't believe to this day that Degorski did it, and calls the case against him "digusting". Give me a break.

How about this for the real Degorski?  From Victims' families confront convicted killer James Degorski at the Daily Herald:

Thursday's proceedings also included testimony from Degorski's former high school girlfriend, Kristin Smith, who described how he punched, slapped and verbally abused her during their one-year relationship. She described a particularly harrowing encounter May 11, 1992, after they broke up, in which he brutally beat and threatened to kill her, duct taped her hands and feet and made her get in the trunk of her car. He released her some five hours later. She made an official complaint and police filed charges against Degorski, who received a year's supervision and was ordered to stay away from her, Smith said. But she testified that he continued to drive by her house and call her occasionally for several years.

"He told me one time he was going to make himself famous and it wouldn't be the way I expected," she said.

Maybe; just maybe; Paul Degorski is a sociopath.  Maybe; just maybe; when he said he wanted 'to do something big' - and bragged about it afterwards to friends and associates--he didn't mean taking a stroll in the park; he meant something more diabolical - something more evil; something that most people would have never considered: murder.

You know what?  I'm sorry for people who had the wool pulled over their eyes by James Degorski and Juan Luna for so long.  But the 7 victims of the Brown's Fried Chicken Massacre deserve some justice.  Their families deserve some justice; and all their friends and people who loved them deserve justice.  This is a very old crime, and it's good that it finally came to a close.  I lived in the area at the time, and I remember what it was like wondering who was walking the streets and that murderers were walking around free out there.

This coverage which stresses emotional torment and crying for convicted murderers who deserve to be on death row defies the imagination.  James Degorski was convicted of his role in the Brown's Fried Chicken Massacre while an innocent man sits in prison and has been there for 16 years: Paul Modrowski.

Paul Modrowski was fingered in the murder of Dean Fawcett in Barrington around the same time.  From the same article at the Daily herald:

Ten days after the Brown's murder, a beheaded corpse had been found on a railroad embankment in Barrington. Later that spring, Paul Modrowski and Robert Faraci were charged in the killing, and the body was identified as Dean Fawcett. Faraci reportedly told interrogators that Modrowski had committed the Brown's murders as well, but the story never resulted in solid evidence or any charges.

Modrowski was convicted in the Fawcett murder, while Faraci was acquitted. Years after that angle on the Brown's case seemed to have gone cold, the police were apparently still interested -- asking the two men to submit DNA samples in 2000.

Robert Feraci and his wife had quite a rap sheet as I recall, I'd like to know since he was acquitted of that crime what other crimes he has added to his criminal history.

Dean Fawcett's murder was a horrendous crime, and it still gives me the willies because if Feraci didn't do it-and Modrowski didn't do it - then who did?  Modrowski was convicted, and believes he was convicted because people suspected he had a role in the Brown's fried chicken murders and Feraci and his wife lied about it.  But Feraci and his wife lied about a lot of things - and today Feraci is free.

Modrowski's conviction makes no sense; and now I'm going to ask my readers if they can get me in touch with someone who can get me the paperwork and the court records. What was he convicted of, one wonders, when all he did was lend his car to Robert Feraci who was acquitted of Dean Fawcett's murder?  Modrowski wasn't even in the car.  If Feraci was acquitted, then Feraci didn't commit the crime, one would think.  Right? Modrwoski LENT the car to Feraci.  So...I need to get some more information on this...it's bothering me.

Modrowski has spent over 16 years in jail for a crime he didn't commit - and people are crying for Degorski who admitted slitting that woman's throat at the Brown's Fried Chicken that fateful night.  Degorski admitted to the crime and confessed to it on tape.  There was no question that Degorski and Luna did that deed and thanks be to God they are in prison now to serve their time for having done so.

I remember one of the things that was mentioned in the reports shortly after the bodies were discovered...that those bodies were in the freezer (two were in the walkin cooler) and they wouldn't have gone through normal decomposition...so the time of death would have been difficult to determine.  But they were still able to estimate the time of death despite that.  Some creepy details about what I read in the news reports are coming to mind now as I'm recalling all this.

And I DO remember the reports about the headless torso found in Barrington around that time.

Modrowski wasn't convicted of the Brown's murders, and he couldn't have been convicted of the Dean Fawcett murder if Feraci was acquitted of it...but that's exactly what happened.  Modrwoski wasn't there, but that doesn't even matter because if Feraci didn't do it, where's the crime?

Now she's considering re-evaluating her hiring practices.  ABC Local:

The escape of convicted bank robber Robert Maday is prompting a review of hiring practices in the Cook County State's Attorneys Office.

Maday disarmed a 69-year-old investigator and his 57-year-old partner to escape Cook County State's Attorney Anita Alvarez is now considering age limits and fitness requirements for her investigators.

Yeah, I'd be embarrassed if I came across this news article and saw those ages of the investigators.  it's one thing to be an investigator, but it's another thing to have someone in custody who could overpower you.  Let's put our thinking caps on for a moment; sometimes these are violent criminals.  They're lucky they're still alive.

The average age is 56 for her office's 163 investigators. Many of them are officers and detectives who have retired from the Chicago Police Department.

That's not very reassuring!  One comment was left on this article as of this writing, and that comment is very telling:

chicagos p.d.'s dumping ground for thousands of cpd officers trying to get a 2nd or 3rd pension, cook county!!! these old officers should have left there badges with thier last job. its not just the states attorneys office its all over cook county. retired cpd officers with guns and badges that are so vulnerable to a prisoner easily disarming them then putting the public at risk all for a cushiony retirement job. the sheriff used to have this detail without any incident or any extra taxes...

This is just plain odd.  From the Southwest News Herald-Casino related donations tied to video gaming ban sponsor

I had to read that title a few times and then read some of the text before that made sense.

Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer (D-10th) received at least $2,000 in campaign contributions from Illinois casino gaming interests three weeks before she publicly unveiled her campaign to block video gaming machines in Cook and DuPage Counties, her financial records show.

So, right there, we see some monetary incentive for Cook County Commissioner Bridget Gainer to campaign for Illinois casinos.  This isn't about what's best for Illinois; this is about who's lining who's pocket with cash.

Video gaming is the heart of Gov. Pat Quinn plan to fund a $31 billion capital improvements program for the state. It would allow up to 45,000 video machines to be placed in establishments with liquor licenses. As much as $500,000 annually could be raised by financially-strapped suburban communities through licensing.

Yes, it's something that the suburban communities have been fighting because of how it effects the areas -but that doesn't matter to Quinn.  Quinn has no scruples as you can tell from his Executive Order 2009-15 which in effect will force home healthcare workers who take care of their disabled relatives into unions.  Or the knowledge that Quinn gave the names and contact information of the 3,500 families of disabled people receiving funds - to the unions to apply pressure for them to join, and then send them thinly veiled threats if they resisted the unions' overtures.

This is a different subject than healthcare, but money is involved in it all.  The special interests pay them off, and then the politicians start doing the dirty work.  This is no different.  I saw some evidence that people thought banning video games was a smart move, but I doubt they knew that what was behind it was the casinos who don't want to be competing fairly for the money to be had in this racket.

But while the machines might help suburban municipalities, it would compete for dwindling gaming revenues with the state’s existing casinos. Illinois has nine riverboat casinos and recently approved a 10th license for a casino to be built in Des Plaines. The 10th License was awarded in December to Midwest Gaming & Entertainment, LLC, whose chairman is Neil Bluhm.

Gainer has taken the lead to block video gaming in Cook County where 40 percent of revenues are expected to be raised. On July 21, 2009, Gainer co-sponsored a campaign with DuPage Commissioner Brien Sheahan (R-2nd) to block video gaming machines in the two counties claiming the placement of the machines would gouge public paychecks and encourage illegal activity.

Their financial records, however, show ties to casino interests that raise questions about who the legislation benefits most.

 Well, we know of one politician that it's benefiting...a little stash of green in the campaign coffer makes everything a-okay.

On June 30, 2009, Gainer’s election campaign received $1,000 from Leslie Bluhm. Bluhm is listed on Gainer’s disclosure forms as working with “Lamb Partners.” On the same day, Gainer also received $1,000 from Gregory Carlin, who is also listed as an executive with at Lamb Partners.

Leslie Bluhm is the daughter of Midwest Gaming Chairman Neil Bluhm, and she is also a “partner” in Midwest Gaming. Gregory Carlin is President of Midwest Gaming. Neil Bluhm has many corporate interests in Illinois including Lamb Partners. He is also president of JMB Realty Corporation.

Sheahan received campaign contributions from Res Publica, an influential public affairs and lobbying firm familiar to Gainer and that has longstanding ties to casino gaming in and around Illinois.

A little bit of sneaky business is going on here, too, as they try to snake this one through...:

Gainer’s legislation was fast-tracked through the county board over the objections of several commissioners who asked that public hearings be held first. In fact, no "public hearings" were held on Gainer’s bill which sat dormant in the Finance Committee until Gainer asked Finance Committee Chairman John Daley to put the bill on an agenda for a vote. That vote was taken last Thursday, October 1, 2009 immediately after a few members of the public, last minute, were allowed to speak on the issue. It is scheduled to be voted on by the full board Tuesday (tomorrow, Oct. 6, 2009).

It will be intteresting to see what the result of that vote is.

Ironically, in announcing her campaign to block video gaming in Cook and DuPage Counties July 31, Gainer strongly denounced Quinn’s legislation arguing the video gaming machine law was “passed in a late-night legislative session, with no public hearings or debate.”

Gainer never disguised her goal to force the state legislature to replace the video gaming component of Quinn’s capital improvement plan. She told the Chicago Tribune last week, “We have time to bring all these other cities and communities along to ban it and basically make Springfield look at this differently and find a better way.”

The Gainer ban could directly benefit the state’s casinos and force the Illinois Legislature to remove video gaming from Quinn’s bill during the Fall session.

In the week before the vote, Bluhm made telephone calls urging county board members to pass Gainer’s video gaming machine ban, according to at least one commissioner.

That Gainer surfaced as the point person spearheading the anti-video gaming legislation is surprising to many. Gainer was never elected to office and was appointed to her seat by Chicago Democratic Ward Committeemen in May to succeed Commissioner Michael Quigley who was elected to congress to succeed U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel.

Raising more questions is that Gainer’s 10th District is in Chicago. It does not include any unincorporated areas of suburban Cook County which would be most affected by her video gaming ban. She is a candidate for re-election in the Feb. 2, 2010 Democratic Primary.

For the past eight years, Gainer worked as a lobbyist for AON Corporation, the insurance giant that also has ties to the casino gaming industry.

Read the rest of the article.  Gainer is just an appointee so it is odd that she is spearheading this...her website and twitter account are filled with items about the casino industry and video gaming-and there is a lot more that is disturbing about this - such as the observation that suburban representation on this went AWOL.

The Southtown Star Reported on October 2nd some other interesting tidbits about videogaming in Illinois - including some critics' claims that it is tied to the mob.

The Cook County Board's finance committee voted on Thursday (October 1) to ban video gambling in unincorporated areas of Cook County. A yes vote affirmed the ban. Here's how commissioners from the Southland voted:

• Jerry Butler (D-3rd), of Chicago: Yes

• John P. Daley (D-11th), of Chicago: Yes

• Elizabeth Doody Gorman (R-17th), of Orland Park: Yes

• Joan Patricia Murphy (D-6th), of Crestwood: Absent

• Deborah Sims (D-5th), of Chicago: Absent

This collection of misfits yanked the Olympic banner from the Picasso statue and threw it in the eternal flame dedicated to our veterans.  They were charged with MOB ACTION.  Interestingly, there was a group of anti-Olympics protesters nearby, but the article made sure to mention that these punks weren't a part of that.  Maybe some day we'll figure out what they were trying to accomplish with their little stunt.  From the news on October 1.

Okay, so I'm a few days late.  I ran across their pictures and just had to post something about it.

Who knows, it might come up later.

Okay that's not entirely accurate. Patti Blagojevich is accusing a charity official of DEFAMING HER. Allegedly.

Let's cover all bases with this one.

• Allegedly, Patti Blagojevich is accusing a charity official of DEFAMING HER.
• Patti Blagojevich is accusing a charity official of allegedly DEFAMING HER.
• Patti Blagojevich is allegedly accusing a charity official of DEFAMING HER.

The Blagojevich story keeps getting weirder and weirder. After Patti appeared on a reality tv show and blubbered her way through it as the world's biggest victim; she's reaching out for other ways to fill her purse with cash. One imaginative solution they cooked up in Chicago is to sue the charity where she used to work for defamation.

The Charity says she used names of their donors to pump up support for her husband's book. That is...at the very least...believable.

Patti Blagojevich, who was fired from the charity group in January, said the list was hers to begin with. In her post as director of development with the charity last year, she created a list for outreach and fund-raising, she said.

There was no such database before she arrived, Illinois' former first lady said, so, starting from scratch, she placed 600 of personal contacts she had accumulated over the years into the index.

"The galling thing about this is before I got to CCIL -- there was no e-mail list. They had no e-mail outreach at all," she said. "I dumped all my contacts of all my friends. . . . Their list is my list."

That's an interesting interpretation - but when you're working for someone, whatever work you produce doesn't belong to you - it belongs to the firm you're working for.  If you create something and it gets patented, the firm owns the patent.  If you create a spreadsheet and populate it with data, the data and the spreadsheet belong to the firm you work for.  Everything you produce when you work for somebody belongs to them; not YOU.  That's what you get paid for...working for them, not YOU.

Even if it IS a charity.

What's heartless is that she is SUING A CHARITY.

People are just talking about what happened in a very factual way; not in a way that would hurt them intentionally. She is claiming ownership over something that she THINKS is hers...but...as we've seen with both Rod and Patti...they claimed ownership over things that weren't theirs to begin with, anyway.

Like that pesky Senate seat.

Rod and Patti and all those who were in bed with them hurt themselves.

Christopher Kelly took it to the extreme and killed himself.

This blog doesn't come up when doing a search for cook county blog - or even the exact blogspot address.

Michelle Malkin hit it out of the park with this one: Special report: A parental revolt against the SEIU’s home invasion robbery

Let's try to simply the story.

As reported earlier, SEIU has been targeting the 3,500 home healthworkers in Illinois. The post here talks about how the health care workers at Resurrection Hospital were "protesting" the hospital's anti-union policies, so these gangsters are desperate to grow their numbers quickly.

I wonder why? Is this just another underhanded push by Union thugs to force through Obamacare?

The strong arm of the socialist unions are at work, and they are now promising to infest private homes across the land. SEIU and AFSCME are thirsting for more dues paying members, and what better people victmize than those who care for disabled relatives in their own homes?

What's worse is they are using lies and coercion to get there.

First, Governor Quinn signed off on the "Executive Order 09-15", also reported here earlier.

Then, the SEIU gets the names and contact information for all those families who are caring for a disabled relative in their homes and the SEIU Purple Shirts began targeting them with a relentless campaign to join the union. They did so by visiting the families, and sending them thinly veiled threats through the mail. They warned that families should remain "neutral" regarding unions, and then they warned that if they spoke out against unionization, they could have their funding revoked.

Read Malkin's entire entries including the letters sent to families and the statement made by Republican Gubernatorial Candidate Dan Proft.

Not to worry, though, in Michigan, they're going after babysitters. And they're active in Kansas and other states as well.

From Reform Cook County

All you need to know about this video is this: if Cicero Village President Larry Dominick wants to “smash” Tony Peraica — it’s because Peraica is on the side of the taxpayers. Read more about Mr. Dominick here, here and here.

Yes, Tony supported Dominick’s first campaign back in 2005 because Dominick ran as a reformer, but has turned out to be just another Cook County political insider. Tony chose to stand with the taxpayers instead of the Cicero Mayor. Simple as that.

This hails back to the days of Al Capone. I wonder if he has any knecapping baseball bats around anywhere.

In Illinois there certainly is! Lunch waivers on the rise in schools across Illinois
Last fall, 922,984 students had fee waiver through lunch program

Lunch waivers on the rise in schools across Illinois  Last fall, 922,984 students (including 19,693 in Elgin, 8,291 in Romeoville, 6,251 in West Aurora, and 3,464 in Plainfield) had fee waiver through lunch program - Tara Malone

There are more freebies that go along with this because State Law exempts students who qualify for free lunches from paying other school fees - from textbooks to transporatation. And where does that money come from?

You guessed it; from the already exhausted taxpayer funds that the government is squandering.

From Illinois Crime and Politics:

Cook County Board president Todd Stroger is in a world of trouble.  But maybe not, if you know Chicago politics.  In the fall of 2008, Stroger hired Tony Cole, a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse busboy with a lengthy criminal record.  So much for the "vetting" process.  Somehow Stroger's cousin, Donna Dunnings is involved in this, as I keep seeing reports that she has bailed Tony Cole out of jail on a few occasions. Donna Dunnings was Cook County's Chief Financial Officer.

Originally from Baton Rouge, La., Cole came to authorities' attention when he was an aspiring basketball player at a Rhode Island community college. He was accused of misconduct by three women. The university barred him from the campus, and he was twice arrested on charges of trespassing, according to court records. In March 2000, he was expelled after two female employees of the athletic department accused him of groping them.

A year later, Cole was recruited to the University of Georgia by coach Jim Harrick, according to court records.

In January 2002 Cole's girlfriend at Georgia accused him of being involved in gang-raping her.

Cole and two friends were indicted on sexual assault charges, but after one was acquitted, the charges against Cole and the other defendant were dropped. Nonetheless, school officials kicked him off the team, and he dropped out of Georgia in early 2003, according to court records.

After he left the university, Cole leveled allegations of NCAA rules violations including grade-fixing against Harrick that led to the coach's resignation.

After returning to Baton Rouge, Cole was charged with aggravated assault after being accused of threatening a former girlfriend with an assault rifle. The assault charge was dropped, but he was convicted of bouncing a $578 rent check in Georgia—a felony conviction Stroger said was never disclosed.  (Chicago Tribune Stroger hires wayward ex-busboy for county job, cousin takes fall)

And this was supposedly the reasoning for his firing Cole?-Cole's undisclosed felony conviction for bounding a $578 rent check in Georgia?

In June 2008 he (Cole) was charged with domestic battery for allegedly striking his girlfriend, according to court records. He allegedly violated an order of protection twice by harassing her at her home, according to court records. He was released after a November arrest once Dunnings posted bail for him of $1,000, court records show. (Chicago Tribune Stroger hires wayward ex-busboy for county job, cousin takes fall)

On October 14, 2008-Tony Cole was hired as an administrative assistant with an annual salary of $48,289. Magically, within a short period of time, Cole's salary jumped to $61,189 as a human resources assistant in the Cook County Highway Department.

In January 2009, prosecutors increased Cole's bail to $40,000 after he allegedly made threatening telephone calls to his accuser at her work over several days. Dunnings (Stroger's cousin) posted $3,000 to have him released, according to the records. This month, Cole was not home as required when authorities made an unannounced visit. He was arrested Tuesday and his bail was raised to $200,000.

It was the latest episode in a years-long pattern of allegations involving violence against women. (ibid)

In April, 2009, Donna Dunnings, Stroger's cousin and Cook County's Chief Financial Officer, resigned. Cole was fired some time beforehand. There is a grand jury investigation regarding Stroger's reckless hiring decisions.

Huffington Post from April 21, 2009:

Three suburban townships, frustrated with the county's high sales tax, voted to secede from Cook County earlier this month. And Stroger's support among Chicago's African American voters, which was a rock-solid 90 percent in the 2006 primary, is also wavering.

"People are not going to just vote for you 'cause you're black anymore," Ald. Ed Smith (28th) told CBS 2. "People are looking at quality, integrity, character."

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/21/stroger-media-blitz-fails_n_189554.html

Stroger and a subpoena (Chicago Tribune)

Golf, Cocaine, and Cook County

It must be nice to be able to get away to a golf outing in Wisconsin. The sun, the cart, your best set of clubs, and... 2 small packs of cocaine? Kevin O'Brien, an employee of the Cook County Assessor's Office, accidentally dropped one pack at the office, and it was caught on DVR before his golf trip. See story.

An employee with the Cook County Assessor's Office was charged with possession of a controlled substance after a packet with a small amount of cocaine was found in an office hallway and authorities tied it to the suspect after reviewing video from a security camera.

Doh!

This poor guy was just trying to "sniff a little coke" and work on his chip shot. But he will have to find a better place to keep the small packs. According to recordings and his confession, the pack popped out of his wallet unexpectedly. A bystander turned the package in and charges were administered. I hope his wife, 38th Ward Democratic committeeman, Patricia Cullerton, understands.

This story is from back in June, but I couldn't help but laugh out loud when I read it. This behavior is rampant in Cook County...Obama, after all, is reported to have smoked crack cocaine in the back of a limousine in 1999 while he was a representative in Springfield...and had homosexual sex. None of this should come as a surprise to anyone...but what's ridiculous is that they're supposed to be looking out for the taxpayer.

And don't get me started on the escapades of Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Ex-alderman Robert Shaw throws hat in for Cook County assessor (Sun Times)

One of Chicago's most controversial and entertaining former aldermen, Bob Shaw, said Thursday that at age 71 he is ready to jump back into the limelight.

Shaw, who served 20 years as an alderman and eight years on the County Board of Review before being voted out of office five years ago, is running for Cook County assessor.

Ironically, Shaw's opponent is his former ally Joe Berrios. For eight years, Shaw and Berrios were the two Democrats on the three-member Cook County Board of Review.

They voted, in many cases, to lower the tax assessments on properties that Assessor Jim Houlihan had set. Now that Houlihan is retiring, both men are seeking the job setting the assessments at the front end.

And both men are taking shots at each other:

"The big hot-shot lawyers are the ones who got the tax breaks," Shaw said of Berrios' approach on the Board of Review.

Asked if he didn't sign off on all those tax breaks for hot-shot lawyers as Berrios' ally on the board, Shaw said, "I did not sign off on every tax break."

In fact, the record shows that sometimes Shaw did dissent from the decisions of Berrios and the board's late Republican commissioner Maureen Murphy, to lower the tax rates for big downtown properties represented by clouted law firms, such as those of Illinois Democratic Party Chairman Mike Madigan and Ald. Edward M. Burke (14th).

This corruption is out in the open, yet...what consequences to they face for having done this? Republicans and democrats are at fault here.

But in most cases, Shaw and Berrios voted together.

"When he makes comments about lawyers donating money, he might want to look at his old D-2s [campaign contribution disclosure statements] because when he was at the board and had his fund-raisers, the people contributing to him are the same people he's beating up right now," Berrios said.

Shaw also took a shot at Berrios over his role as a successful lobbyist for the video poker industry, convincing Madigan and other Springfield legislators to pass a massive expansion on gaming in Illinois in this most recent session.

"My opponent, we call him the 'Video King,' the 'Poker King.' What I'm asking him today, because of his run for this office, is to withdraw and resign immediately as a lobbyist for the video people of Illinois," Shaw said.

Berrios defended his advocacy for video gaming by noting the tax money the state will bring in will help pay for roads and create jobs. He said he was only one of five lobbyists the industry hired to get the bill passed.

Shaw noted the Cook County state's attorney's office is investigating whether Berrios improperly lowered the tax rates for some businesses represented by a former Berrios aide and state Rep. Paul Froelich.

"Where there's smoke, there's fire," Shaw said.

Berrios said he is confident the investigation will show he did nothing improper.

So Berrios is running while under investigation for having lowered the tax rates for cronies on downtown properties. This should be highlighted; but who is investigating him - one of the Madigans?

Shaw faces a daunting task going up against Berrios, who is chairman of the Cook County Democratic Party and has a $3 million war chest. Berrios' fellow committeemen just endorsed him over Shaw this month.

You can see why they would endorse him; he's a part of Chicago politics as usual; they'll get their paybacks soon enough.

Poking fun at the way the lights went out in his conference room at the South Loop Hotel just as he was about to launch his campaign -- they were ought for about 16 minutes -- Shaw said he brought light and transparency to the Board of Review, pushing to have meetings in the neighborhood educating homeowners about their rights to appeal their tax assessments.

I wonder if he has ties to ACORN. And indication of that is 'educating homeowners about their rights to appeal their tax assessments' - and this:

Shaw was quotable enough to make the news often, pouring rhetorical gasoline on racial arguments in the Council.

"A white should not be mayor. When they were mayor, they did not treat blacks and other minorities fairly. They don't know how to be fair," Shaw told the Chicago Defender in 1988.

I suppose "fairness" to this guy means black folks don't have to pay the same as everyone else. There is an unending entitlement mentality here based on race, and it is shamefully ACORN-esque.

Most of the Democrat candidates for Cook County positions have been given money by ACORN/SEIU:

For countywide office, the Democratic Party slated: Joseph Berrios, Assessor; David Orr ($24,500), County Clerk; Tom Dart ($57,338), Sheriff, and Maria Pappas, Treasurer. For the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District the party slated Michael Alvarez, Barbara McGowan ($500) and Mariyanna Spyropolous.

But this is also happening on the Republican side; it's both sides that are getting funding from ACORN, the SEIU and AFSCME.

The tax assessments issue has been going on for a long time and is something my great grandfather fought against back in the 1920's. The powers that be didn't appreciate it very much, so they went after him. There needs to be some fairness brought to the Cook County system - but it won't happen under either one of these clowns.

Well...they need to get the money they've already blown from somewhere.

Driver's license renewal fees to rise -WGN Chicago Breaking News

SPRINGFIELD -- For more than 25 years, it has cost Illinoisans 10 dollars to renew their driver's licenses. That is about to change.

On Oct. 11, the cost of renewing a standard Illinois driver's license jumps from the $10 in effect since 1983 to $30.

The hike in the renewal fee came as lawmakers and Gov. Pat Quinn raised a number of taxes and fees in order to pay for a $30 billion program to build roads, schools and bridges.

Quinn and lawmakers touted the construction plan for its potential to generate jobs during the recession. However, Secretary of State Jesse White says he doesn't want to be blamed for the fee increases as drivers pour into his offices.

White is seeking re-election to his post.

-- Associated Press

So this is Quinn's version of "stimulus" for the State of Illinois, I take it. Build the infrastructure with tax dollars ripped off from working people. Nobody wants to be "blamed" for these increases...yet the only people that bear the responsibility are the ones who are in office making these foolish decisions. Unless, of course, you want to blame Bush.

Fmr. Blagojevich adviser Kelly dies; death probe looks at drugs

This is a very strange case and connected to Blagojevich. Christopher Kelly was found slumped over in his car in a lumberyard which is reportedly near a storage space he rents. His girlfriend found him after he text messaged her to meet her there. He was apparently not in a very good shape and she drove him to the hospital, where he later died on Saturday, September 12.

Kelly had run up thousands of dollars in personal debts was believed to be strapped for cash.

He was facing three years in prison for hiding $1.3 million in income, including company money he used to pay gambling debts that he wrote off as business expenses. He was facing five additional years for taking part in an $8.5 million fraud involving roofing work on United Air Lines and American Airlines hangars at O'Hare International Airport.

And still to come was a trial in a sweeping indictment that charged Blagojevich, Kelly and four other men with planning several fraudulent deals involving state government and millions of dollars in kickbacks.

It's being treated as a homicide even though the official line is -suicide.

Kelly Talked to Police Officer Before He Died

Kelly told police he'd recently had surgery on his private parts. When Kelly's girlfriend reached the scene at the lumberyard, she saw vomit inside and outside his Escalade, then pushed Kelly over to the passenger side of the vehicle and drove him to Oak Forest Hospital. He was laying on a gurney when he was questioned by police.

Here's the fishy part from the same suntimes article:

The police officer also interviewed an unidentified “male white with grey hair” who claimed to be Kelly’s friend. He told the officer who Kelly was, Welch said.

Later Saturday morning, a white man with grey hair — police are unsure if it was the same man interviewed at the hospital earlier — came to the hospital with keys to the Escalade and tried to remove it from the parking lot but was turned away by police, Welch said.

Kelly was Blagojevich's 'go-to' man and after Blago was under indictment, Kelly refused to flip for the prosecution and stayed loyal to Blagojevich.

His death came four days after pleading guilty to the $8.5 million fraud at O'hare airport and would have been part of the proceedings regarding Blagojevich's case next June.

What happened

On January 8, 1993, the event that would become infamous as the Brown's Chicken Massacre occurred at a Palatine, Illinois branch. Seven people were murdered, including both owners and 5 employees, all of whom were found bound in the walk-in freezer. In 2002, James Degorski and Juan Luna were arrested for the murders.[1] In May 2007, Luna was convicted of his part in the murders and sentenced to life imprisonment.[1] (Wikipedia on the Brown's Chicken and Pasta entry)

Actually, 5 were in the freezer, 2 were in the cooler, an example of why you can't rely very heavily on the accuracy of Wikipedia. But it's a nice place to start.

Also see the Wikipedia entry on the Brown's Chicken Massacre.

On neither entry do they mention Paul Modrowski - who, for quite some time, was the main suspect in the Brown's Chicken Massacre.

On September 28, 2009, James Degorski was found guilty of the Browns Chicken murders. Interestingly enough, you really have to search around to find information about what happened, the trials, etc.

There is another murder case that is related to the Brown's Chicken Massacre-and you can find out about it by finding information about Dean Fawcett's murder. The two cases seem to overlap in some ways.

See the blog Paul Modrowski - On the Inside - which is where Paul Modrowski's story is being told. Paul does not have access to the internet - and has never seen the blog. He writes his blog with a paper and pencil from his prison cell. Paul Modrowski was only 18 when he was charged in 1993 with one count of first-degree murder in the death of Dean C. Fawcett, 22, of La Grange Park, whose headless torso was found along railroad tracks in Barrington, officials said. Modrowski was also under suspicion and questioned in the Jan. 8 murders of seven people at the Brown's Chicken & Pasta restaurant in Palatine. (Sun Time-April 30, 1993-Rebecca Carr; Tom McNamee)

On February 17, 1995, a Rolling Meadows jury

"decided Paul Modrowski was a cold-blooded killer, guilty of fatally shooting an acquaintance and then sawing off his head and hands.

The jury reached its verdict this morning after deliberating 18 hours in the case against the 20-year-old Mokena man.

"Justice has been done and the community is safer," said Charles Fawcett, the father of the victim, Dean Fawcett.

Dean Fawcett's torso was found two years ago along railroad tracks in northwest suburban Barrington.

Two men were accused of the murder. Robert Faraci, 27, of Schiller Park, was acquitted of first-degree murder charges Wednesday by a separate jury. Prosecutors argued that both men killed Fawcett..." Chicago Sun-Times -February 17, 1995 by Sharon Cotliar

That's pretty brutal reporting, considering what I've read on the other side of it.

Robert Faraci was acquitted - and he supposedly was the individual who borrowed Modrowski's car and did the deed. This story hardly makes any sense; which is probably one of the reasons it's so hard to find any evidence that it even took place. I can't find much in news reports on it, either. I find it incredibly odd that Modrowski- who lent his car to Feraci who was acquitted of Fawcett's murder - would be put in jail when he wasn't even there when the murder took place, according to his blog entries; and no evidence was found in his vehicle. With the conviction of Juan Luna and James Degorski, it would seem that the cloud over Modrowski's head should have cleared, too; but he's stuck in prison and has been there for 14 years.

Interestingly, there is little to be found about the Brown's Fried Chicken murders on the internet now. At the Daily Herald, however, a new story emerged about one of the alleged perps having been exonerated -Celso Morales - with the conviction of James Degorski at the end of September.

Dark clouds lifts for innocent man eyed in Brown's Chicken killings

With the conviction of James Degorski on Tuesday - the second after the 2007 conviction of accomplice Juan Luna, those long wrongly under scrutiny are finally, truly free.

Not all of them; but at least the ones you might suspect as hispanic gang members have been 'truly set free'.

No official number of suspects has been made public. But the trail left by investigators in more than a decade of searching for the killers ranges from some of the restaurant's employees to Chicago gang members and suspects in similar fast food killings across the nation.

See NBC coverage of the Degorski trial here.

Restaurant owners Lynn and Richard Ehlenfeldt, Michael Castro, Rico Solis, Guadalupe Maldonado, Marcus Nellsen and Thomas Mennes all died in this execution style killing - God bless them and may they RIP.


See 44 Minutes in January - The Daily Herald - read the entire tale with some of the facts glossed over by journalists.

Palatine councilman wants to meet about Brown's Chicken reward money
More than $100,000 collected following 1993 slayings at restaurant, Wagner says

From Cao's blog - Proft Stands With Families to Protect the Disabled from Union Thugs again Dan Proft comes out and calls it like it is with no smoke and mirrors.

Would You Let SEIU Come Between You and Your Child? (Governor Quinn-Rescind Executive Order 0915!!!) - from Dan Proft's Campaign for Governor - a letter from Dan Proft

Dear Conservatives, Republicans and Independents Looking for Reform,

Can you imagine a public sector union coming between you and your child?

Well, that’s precisely what families with disabled children in Illinois are facing if Gov. Quinn does not rescind an executive order he issued which would unionize personal support workers of disabled children in Illinois. Often these personal support workers are the parents themselves!

Prior to Gov. Quinn’s intrusion, the program in question was a rare state program that actually worked.

Currently, money flows to the families and the families control how the money is spent to best serve the individual needs of their child. This program saved taxpayer dollars and kept children with challenges closer to their families while enhancing their quality of life.

Yesterday, several courageous families stood with me to stand against the bullies in SEIU and AFSCME, the intended beneficiaries of Gov. Quinn’s Executive Order.



Please watch this video. The first speaker on this video is Ellen Bronfeld. The second speaker is Gordon Stiefel. Both are parents of disabled children who fear the deterioration of services for their children if Gov. Quinn’s Executive Order is not rescinded.

This cynical move by Gov. Quinn is nothing more than a payoff to the public sector unions that finance his campaign. Quinn has taken more than $140,000 in campaign cash from SEIU and AFSCME.

I joined these families in calling on Gov. Quinn to rescind this blatant power grab on behalf of his financers. It is time someone stood up to politicians like Quinn and the union bullies. The families of disabled children in Illinois should be especially thankful for the courage shown by the Bronfeld, Stiefel, Schwartz, and Withers families who stepped forward to bring this issue to light.

We, as Republicans, need to take the fight to the public sector unions on behalf of the most vulnerable. For too long, Republicans in Illinois have gone along to get along. They have been complicit with public sector unions that have had the run of this state at taxpayer expense while people who play by the rules have been fleeced to finance the status quo.

If we’re going to call on others to cut ties from SEIU, then we should begin by doing so ourselves. Which is why I have called on my Republican primary opponents and all Republican party organizations to stop accepting campaign cash from SEIU and AFSCME. If we want to present a comprehensive, conservative reform agenda to Illinois voters, we need to do so with clean hands. We cannot do that if we are on the dole of SEIU and AFSCME.

If we are serious about protecting and providing for the most vulnerable in our society, then we define and defend our constituency. We must stand with families of disabled children playing by the rules to provide for their children and against the cynical ploys of Chicago Democrats to rig the system for the benefit of SEIU and AFSCME union bosses.

Sincerely,

Dan Proft
Republican Candidate for Governor

P.S. - If we want better for Illinois, people who know better must stand up and work for better. That’s what the families I have referred to have done. What will you do? Please consider joining our campaign today or making a contribution in furtherance of the delivering of our message to people who play the rules across our state.

This is from an article published in late September at the Edison Norwood Times Review -by Alan Schmidt titled "Resurrection Health Care workers rally for right to unionize".

Resurrection Health Care employees and members of AFSCME Illinois Council 31 held a 36-hour vigil outside Resurrection Medical Center over the weekend to end what organizers characterized as an "an aggressive anti-union campaign."

What it really is - is Resurrection's "aggressive anti-union campaign" is comprised of personnel who have some common sense. Governor Pat Quinn passed executive order 0915 which must be revoked in order to stop the coming Illinois union disaster. This "protest" is an orchestrated campaign to shove this socialist agenda down the throats of patients and doctors and destroy our healthcare system.

I'll get to the trouble with unions in a moment.

Employees at the health-care organization, which runs eight hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and other facilities across the Chicago area, have been trying to form a union for the past several years. The vigil, staged across the street from the Northwest Side hospital, at 7435 W. Talcott Ave., was sponsored by Healthcare Employees Acting at Resurrection Together -- HEART -- and Council 31.

All of this sounds wonderful, doesn't it? An organization that calls itself "HEART" what could be wrong with that? But it doesn't take long to figure out that there is something terribly wrong here. The SEIU and AFSCME have apparently partnered together. SEIU/AFSCME and ACORN (Yes ACORN) are inexcorably tied to Obama's Healthcare Plan and the push for socialist healthcare.

SEIU and AFSCME are pushing across this country to unionize -not only hospitals and nursing homes-but force home healthcare workers - many of whom are parents of children or relatives of family members who are disabled. Just think about that for a moment; if a man doesn't want to wipe his disabled child's butt can he go on strike?

Here is an article that is written by a nurse at the American Thinker which recounts her experience.

My first article for American Thinker was titled "Welcome to ACORN General Hospital." I wrote that Barack and Michelle's healthcare vision seemed to be hospitals as agents for community organizing. At the time I thought I was indulging in a little hyperbole. Little did I know that I was right on the money.

We should remember the problem with community organizers - our Lawyer-In-Chief is one of them; and community organizing is what put pressure on the banks to give loans to people who couldn't afford them - which in turn, created the financial crisis that we're in. Government should never be relied on as 'the answer'.

In an article at the Globe, The Trouble With Unions -bg George Leef-George puts it into perspective with an example of uionizing healthcare workers in Los Angeles:

The root of the problem is that unionism is rooted in coercion rather than consent. Workers can't just sign up for union services like they would for, say, an Internet service provider, staying with it as long as they're satisfied that they're getting good value for the money.

Instead, the law makes the choice of union representation into a collective decision by majority vote that's binding indefinitely. Most American workers who have union representation have never even had the chance to vote on keeping that union, and if they don't like it, all they can do is quit.

No other private organization in the United States has the authority to compel people to accept its services. Americans love freedom of choice, but the laws -- laws that unions fought to get back in the 1930s -- have set up a system that gives union officials monopoly power.

This system gives union heads great power over the people they claim to represent. They might accomplish some good for the workers, but they also might do things that are detrimental.

The history of union abuses is a sad and bitter one. Sometimes officials have decided to sacrifice jobs rather than allowing wage or benefit cuts that would save the company. Sometimes violence has been unleashed against individuals who criticize the union. Sometimes workers have had large amounts of their dues money squandered by officials who use it to live high on the hog. Very often workers are compelled to pay for the political activism of the union officials, funding candidates they don't agree with.

A recent case illustrates why many Americans want nothing to do with unions.

Due to the cooperation of Los Angeles County politicians, a local of the Service Employees International Union was declared to be the bargaining representative for more than 97,000 home healthcare providers. Most of them were care-givers for elderly family members. They weren't asked if they wanted union representation. Union-backed politicians just declared that since the people were being paid by the government, the union should ''represent" them.

The care-providers suddenly found themselves paying union dues for services they didn't want. To top it off, when some of them complained about this sweetheart deal, it turned out that SEIU was illegally charging them more than the amount allowed. Carla West, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by National Right to Work Foundation attorneys against SEIU, said that she resents the fact that union officials want to make off with a chunk of the money that should be going to care for her elderly mother.

A settlement in the case required the union to repay nearly $8 million in illegally seized dues.

It was a great mistake to have enacted the laws that transformed unions from voluntary associations into monopolies with quasi-governmental authority. But it isn't too late to change the law. We just need more lawmakers who believe that union representation should be voluntary, never coerced.

This is just one example of why Resurrection Hospital must continue to resist the Union Thugs of AFSCME, ACORN, SEIU and HEART. We don't need that nightmare here.